


Lavatory interlude

by twofrontteethstillcrooked



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Declan Lynch is still not a bad guy, Inappropriate places for snacks, M/M, Snippetfic that follows snippetfic, UST just all over the place possibly, snippetfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 21:28:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4153590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twofrontteethstillcrooked/pseuds/twofrontteethstillcrooked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monmouth's bathroom is as good a place to chill/hide as any.</p><p>Follows <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4057966">A small kindness</a> and <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4067878">Messages from home</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lavatory interlude

**Author's Note:**

> 15-17 June 2015 snippetfic for Sit the Fuck Down and Write Month

Snacking in the bathroom at Monmouth was a tradition, one Declan did not seem to appreciate. He was watching Noah with concern written across his dark features. Noah enjoyed the attention and continued deconstructing Gansey's bag of Cheez Waffie sandwiches. Not that he was hungry but he did like their shape and texture and letting their neon orange cheez stain his fingertips. The cheese with a z the manufacturers used had a velvety consistency, like a rouge. (His mother kept a compact of blusher in her purse at all times; at age three he'd licked the surface of the bright pink powder, thinking it would taste like cotton candy. It had not.)

Noah thought about writing a message to his roommates on the smooth marble surround in the tub -- "Buy more Cheez Waffies," for instance -- but Declan was giving him an impatient look. It made the fact of Declan being Ronan's brother inescapable, and Noah did not want to get thrown out a window. He closed up the crinkly Waffies bag with a chip clip shaped like a skull and bones and wiped his hands off on his jeans. He batted his eyelashes at Declan, to see if Declan would notice.

Declan narrowed his eyes. "I'm not cleaning those up." He pointed at the pile of dismembered Waffies the way Gansey would have.

Without blinking or looking away, Noah stretched out his arm and swept the crunchy little pile under a still damp towel someone (Ronan) had left on the floor.

Declan sighed and Noah grinned. Hiding in the bathroom with Declan was fun. Well, not hiding exactly. And not fun exactly. But something.

It was a lot easier than thinking about Adam's face, or the way Noah knew he was sitting on the edge of Gansey's mattress, agony draped over him like a heavy cloak, or the way Ronan was sitting next to him, not touching Adam, unable to keep from feeling the warmth of Adam's body beside his and nauseous from the weight of Adam's grief.

"They're not doing anything, you know," Noah told Declan.

Declan cocked his head like a dog who wasn't sure whether or not biting would be called for soon. "Who?"

"Ronan and Adam. Right now. Out there." Noah cocked his head too, in the direction opposite Declan's. Declan's mouth quirked so barely it possibly didn't at all and Noah had only imagined it, but he considered it a victory regardless. "Not anywhere else either."

Declan said, "What--"

"I don't tell other people's secrets," Noah stated. "Um. Except I guess I did just then. Except, not doing something doesn't seem like much of a secret as much as a fact anyone would already know."

Declan exhaled like a person counting to ten in his head. Or like a dog who was listening to some signal below or far above the sounds humans could hear. What kind of dog would Declan be? Noah took a second to run through the breeds he'd ever petted. Declan reminded him of a husky crossed with a pointer crossed with a falcon.

"They do that a lot," Noah explained. "Not doing anything. Which is also probably obvious."

Declan's to-bite-or-not-to-bite expression shifted. "What are you talking about?" he asked without malice, which Noah appreciated.

"Adam and Ronan sitting side by side somewhere, not talking. That's sorta their thing."

"The less Ronan talks, the less chance there is of him getting into a fight," Declan said. It was a reasonable theory Noah knew to be completely false, but then Declan knew that too.

"He's got some issues," Noah agreed. "Annual subscription. So does Adam. Lifetime subscriber and such."

Declan nodded, stared down at his hands. The tile floor was cold to sit on. Noah wondered if he should volunteer some of the clean towels for use as cushions. Not that there were many clean towels. If he concentrated he could pop into his bedroom, grab the pillows off the bed, and pop back.

"I wish," Declan began and stopped, frowning.

"Yeah," Noah said, "I know."

Declan's eyes snapped right to his, piercing and blue like clear water reflecting a cloudless sky. Noah felt much more seen than usual. He squirmed a little, sliding an inch or two away from him. He meant to say something in response, an apology, and was saved from it by Ronan slamming the door open.

From the view from the bathroom floor, Ronan appeared to be really tall. He pointed at his brother.

"You. Out."

Declan stood up right into Ronan's personal space. Noah decided to stay seated, where there were likely to be fewer fists.

"I know asshole is your default position, but knock it off," Declan said. "Nobody's doing anything to you. _I'm_ not doing anything to you."

"Get out of my bathroom. Both of you," Ronan said, not stepping back a smidge.

"Why?" Declan said, snot-toned and contemptuous, and Noah suppressed a squeak.

"Because I have to fucking piss, genius," Ronan said, somehow making a ridiculous if honest answer sound 1000% threatening. His eyes, though. Noah swallowed another squeak.

"Oh," Declan said. His whole demeanor changed. Noah had never seen him capitulate like that: he hadn't moved back either, but he'd lowered his shoulders and his face was doing _things_ , as though he were searching Ronan out with mind beams or osmosis or sorcery -- warlock!Declan would be so cool, Noah thought -- and it occurred to Noah that Declan was trying to reach Ronan without literally reaching for Ronan, because they were not very good brothers but maybe they had been once.

"C'mon, Noah," Declan said without breaking eye contact with Ronan for a long moment.

Noah grabbed Declan's wrist to steady himself when standing up. Declan gave him another indescribable look but didn't resist. Ronan's eyebrows judged Noah hard enough that Noah let go and he and Declan sidled towards the door without further comment.

"I know you called Gansey," Ronan said as they stepped into the hall. Declan shot Noah a look. Noah wanted to say that he'd put the phone back where he'd found it; however, he hadn't, now that he thought about it. It was still in the tub. Well, Ronan would find it.

Noah didn't see Adam anywhere. "We were just worried," Declan turned and said, low, after making his own inspection of Monmouth from his and Noah's vantage.

Ronan grimaced. He appeared to struggle with whatever he wanted to say next. There were dark smudges under his eyes. He settled on, "Whatever. Close the fucking door."

Noah pulled it shut. When he walked out into the main room Declan followed. Ronan's bedroom door was pulled to. Noah oriented himself and realized Adam was in there, his breathing the slow, shuddering type that happened when you did not ease into rest so much as raptor's talons dragged you down into unconsciousness. Noah hoped, without much confidence, that Adam was either dreaming something peaceful or not dreaming at all.

Eventually Ronan came out of the bathroom, crossed the floor to his own door, and went inside without acknowledging Noah or Declan. Declan had taken a seat on one of the wide windowsills that overlooked Monmouth's scraggly backyard. Noah joined him, perching on the opposite end of the sill. Unspeaking, they watched new rain, tinted silver in the streetlight, gust ghostly against the window, and they waited for Gansey to arrive.

**Author's Note:**

> will i ever get around to Adam's actual pov? magic 8 ball says stay tuned
> 
>  
> 
> [eta 24 June 2015: next part's [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4202097)]


End file.
